Rockies manager: Supreme Court ruling on sports gambling inevitable

SAN DIEGO» Count Rockies manager Bud Black among those who weren’t surprised by the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a federal law that prohibited gambling on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states.

“I think it was just a matter of time before this was going to happen,” Black said. “I’m not an avid follower of sports betting, but it seemed to me, why should it only be in Vegas?”

Monday’s 63 ruling negated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a 1992 law that made Nevada the only state where someone could wager on a game. According to the Center for Gambling Research, Colorado is one of 16 states expected to offer sports betting within the next two years.

What expanded gambling means for a sport with its own sticky past with the subject — such as the Black Sox scandal where players were accused of intentionally throwing the 1919 World Series, and the lifetime banishment of Pete Rose — remains to be seen.

“There’s always that threat (of gambling affecting the game’s integrity) — we’ve had that in our game in the past when it’s not been legal,” Rockies first baseman Ian Desmond said. “And there’s always speculation about whether college football or the NFL or NBA (are influenced) — there’s a lot of money there, obviously, and a lot of people in dark circles, dark streets and dark alleys that have a lot at stake.”

Major League Baseball, along with all the other three major American professional sports leagues, had urged the court to uphold the law based off the argument that gambling expansion would hurt the integrity of the game.

“Today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court will have profound effects on Major League Baseball,” the league said in a statement.

The statement continued: “Our most important priority is protecting the integrity of our games. We will continue to support legislation that creates airtight coordination and partnerships between the state, the casino operators and the governing bodies in sports toward that goal.”